Ten Million Kiffmeyer Critics Can't Be Wrong

Does anyone out there still heed the old
admonition, If you can't say something nice,
don't say anything at all? Apparently not
when it comes to Minnesota's chief election
official, Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer.
Always controversial, Kiffmeyer has been
buried under an avalanche of criticisms in
recent months. Detractors have bluntly
called into question her motives or her
competence or, just as often, both.

The barbs have come from all quarters:
newspaper editorialists, pundits, judges,
local election officials, Democrats, third-
party folk, even a few of her fellow
Republicans. With the elections drawing
near, Kiffmeyer's actions have even
attracted some national scrutiny. Last week,
a Washington Post article examined the
exploitation of terror fears as a means to
depress voter turnout; not surprisingly,
Kiffmeyer's campaign to place posters at
polling places warning about possible
"homicide bombers" (FOX News)
rated prominent mention.

What follows is a brief compendium of public
salvos lobbed Kiffmeyer's way:

"The baseless allegations [that Hennepin
County violated federal voter registration
rules] represent an appalling lack of
expertise and knowledge of the law in the
secretary of state's office. The unwarranted
charges have taken valuable time away
from our staff, at considerable cost to
taxpayers.... As chair of the Hennepin
County Board, I expect a prompt apology to
our staff and the taxpayers. This is obviously
not a partisan matter, as Secretary of State
Kiffmeyer and I are both Republicans."

--Randy Johnson, chairman of the Hennepin
County Board of Commissioners (press
release, June 18)

"If people take [her] warnings seriously, they
will be suspiciously eyeing every 'strange
looking' neighbor waiting in line [at polling
places]. Thankfully, election officials around
the state refused to put [her terrorist alert]
posters up. But the point is: Kiffmeyer should
not have sent them out to begin with.
Where is her judgment?"

--Tim Penny, former Independence Party
candidate for governor (Star Tribune,
September 29)

"Then there's Kiffmeyer's bizarre obsession
with voter fraud, which led her to clash with
local election officials over the installation of
a new computer system that complicates
same-day registration. There's no evidence
of voter fraud tainting Minnesota elections,
which traditionally rank among the strongest
in voter turnout in the nation. But that hasn't
stopped Kiffmeyer."

--Editorial (Ely Timberjay, October 5)

"Normally, secretaries of state manage to
avoid criticism. In this case, however, much
more criticism is needed."

--Editorial (University of Minnesota Daily,
September 21)

"[Kiffmeyer] told a prayer group in May, the
'five words' that are 'probably most
destructive' in the nation today are
'separation of church and state'....
Kiffmeyer's defense of greater church
involvement in the democratic process
appears curious in light of rules she
proposed that would have had precisely the
opposite effect on most Minnesotans.
Kiffmeyer recently decided that in order to
vote in November every would-be voter in
the state must show an ID reflecting an
'exact match' to the file of names, driver's
license numbers, and dates of birth
circulated by her office. Such rules would
have the effect of robbing the vote from
thousands of state residents, including those
who encounter errors in the information
about them on Kiffmeyer's official list."

--Hans Johnson (In These Times, August
20)

"As a result of her misfeasance, all
Minnesotans--including, ironically, those
Minnesota National Guardsmen and
Guardswomen fighting for democracy in Iraq
and Bosnia--will be denied an opportunity to
practice true democracy here at home."

--Jack Uldrich, Vice-Chairman, Minnesota
Independence Party (letter to the Star
Tribune, September 21)

"We therefore conclude that removal of
candidate Shepard from the ballot for the
reasons articulated by the secretary of state
is contrary to federal law."

"Kiffmeyer has been the center of
controversy nearly since her first election in
1998. She claimed direct knowledge of
election fraud during her campaign although
has never been able to substantiate the
claims. In fact, it was illegal for her as an
election judge (the capacity in which she
claimed to have witnessed the malfeasance)
to withhold information regarding voting
fraud."

--Shawne Towle, editor of political
newsletter (Checks and Balances, October
5)

"Whatever the motivation, suppressing voter
turnout will be the result of most of her
actions and that's a strange thing to say
about a Minnesota secretary of state."

--Editorial (Politics in Minnesota newsletter,
September 15)

"In less than six years, she has
distinguished herself as probably the least
competent person to hold this important
office in Minnesota history."